Fairlop Waters Consultation – Phase 2 – First meeting

AHDA attended Phase 2 Fairlop Waters Extension Consultation 24/5/21

The council has not made it clear what the timescale for this development is. The attendees seemed to be under the impression that it was all going to happen soon and didn’t realise there was still gravel extraction going on for at least another 10 years.

Will the restoration plan for gravel extraction areas E and F be incorporated into this? See gravel extraction map below. It was also pretty obvious that some of the people on this committee have never spent any real time there. Talks of putting in lighting and cycle tracks and swimming pools!

It was difficult to know who was actually there as the participant list included a lot of aliases and numbers. At the break I heard someone talking to the administrator and putting down the AHDA as it “needs to get over the gravel extraction”!!! They probably didn’t realise we could all listen in if our audio and video was still on! I have put in a bit of feedback on this. As the gravel extraction is about to start again this will be causing anxiety and dismay to a lot of people. Let alone the dust and increased traffic and of course the effect of the Haul Road.

People need to realise the difference between a park and a nature reserve. Parks have areas for people to enjoy human activities, sailing, play areas etc as well as spaces to enjoy nature. Nature Reserves put the protection of animals and plants before all else, people attend only as observers. It is very important that this is made very clear in any future plans and that zoning occurs so the nature reserve areas, current and future, are protected from any harmful development.

Perhaps we will ‘get over it’ when it finally stops. Its been going on since the 1950’s as anyone interested in local heritage will know. While the restoration of the land has lead to some good things such as Fairlop Waters and the Nature Reserve – its important, at least to us, that all the local residents have lived through has been worthwhile and not now ruined.

There are five online workshops on Monday evenings from 5.30 to 7.30pm on May 24th, June 7th, June 21st, July 5th and July 19th, plus preparation and any follow-up activity. This vision will form the basis of a masterplan for the park.

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